TESL 0100- unit 6- Reflections - Planning a lesson

Lessons and activities are the main elements of teaching which should be compiled by considering
students’ needs and goals.As we have multi-level students in class, it would be hard to define each
student’s understanding of a lesson. To plan a lesson, it is not only important to consider students’
needs, but also the outcome of the lesson. When a teacher is planning a lesson, she/ he should:

• plan for differentiated learning styles (e.g. for different ability levels or early finishers),
• Anticipate problems that may arise during the lesson, and plan how to respond to these,
• Describe how learners’ understanding will be checked or assessed,
• Plan activities that help learners to develop learning strategies,
• Describe how a lesson is linked to those before and after it.

These criteria could be different for each lesson.

Also, each person has different learning styles and techniques like Visual (spatial), Aural (auditory-musical),
Verbal (linguistic), Physical (kinesthetic), Logical (mathematical), Social (interpersonal) and Solitary (intrapersonal).
Teachers should consider students’ learning styles to plan a good lesson.

I think planning a lesson is based more on experience. A teacher could plan a great lesson but it would only work for one class, so it is important to always consider the needs of each class daily and plan for the next lesson. It is hard to say how a teacher can ensure that he/she accounts for all individual differences in a class. There are some ways that could help a teacher to have a better idea about students’ understanding like checking the students’ progress by assessments and checking for misconceptions and metacognition.

Here you can find my lesson plan for this lesson.

Resources:

“Learning-Styles-Online.com.” Overview of Learning Styles, www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/.

Hanson, J. (n.d), 10 Steps to Beginner ESL Lesson Plans That Get Your Students Off the Ground, Fluent English Educator Blog. Retrieved from https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/beginner-esl-lesson-plans/